Nick Kello profile picture

Nick Kello

About Me


Keeping Quiet
Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.
This one time upon the earth,
let's not speak any language,
let's stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.
It would be a delicious moment,
without hurry, without locomotives,
all of us would be together
in a sudden uneasiness.
The fishermen in the cold sea
would do no harm to the whales
and the peasant gathering salt
would look at his torn hands.
Those who prepare green wars,
wars of gas, wars of fire,
victories without survivors,
would put on clean clothing
and would walk alongside their brothers
in the shade, without doing a thing.
What I want shouldn't be confused
with final inactivity:
life alone is what matters,
I want nothing to do with death.
If we weren't unanimous
about keeping our lives so much in motion,
if we could do nothing for once,
perhaps a great silence would
interrupt this sadness,
this never understanding ourselves
and threatening ourselves with death,
perhaps the earth is teaching us
when everything seems to be dead
and then everything is alive.
Now I will count to twelve
and you keep quiet and I'll go.
-- Pablo Neruda 1958
(Englsih translation by Stephen Mitchell, the original is best of course)

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 30/10/2006
Influences: Influences range from the subtle to the sublime, from the poignant to the mundane. They are fluid, always evolving, always changing and yet somehow strangely solid and stable. Throw a stone into a pool of water and an endless array of ripples is born, each giving birth to the one that follows, untill, finally the water at the edge itself is transformed (and the shore along with it). Nature, with all its myriad forms and subtleties, is such a stone: the wind dancing with the top of the tree branches in the high, unreachable distances; the tiny whirlpools of dust; the stoical mountains. And so are the people, the wonderful faces of this day and past. In the more tangible but no less impressive realm of music, there is the various array of flavors from the countless corners of the earth: the sounds of Joao Gilberto, A.C. Jobim, Baden Powell, Jorge Ben, Z.M. Dagar, Oumou Sangare, Toumani Djiabate, Paco de Lucia, Vicente Amigo, Miroslav Tadic, Garmarna and Hedningarna, to name a few. There is the soul-piercing beauty of Nina Simone, the sophistication of Charlie Haden, the tone of Bill Frisell, the depth of Bach and Miles Davis, the beauty of Phillip Glass, and the power of Dead Can Dance. There is the raw, uncompromising edge of Buddy Guy and the lionlike heart of Oliver Mtukudzi... and alas... of course..., the songs and the bittersweet wisdom of the troubadors of old, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Boubacar Traoré, Joao Bosco, Lee Hazlewood, Silvio Rodriguez, Caetano Veloso and many more.
Sounds Like: Hello friends. If you would like to get a taste of some Brazilian music, please visit www.myspace.com/nickkellompb. ("MPB" Stands for "Musica Popular Brasileira.")
Type of Label: Unsigned

My Blog

Copyrights

Echoes in TimeThe MessengerThe Hidden MuseThe MirrorThe Other DayThese Words I Say
Posted by on Sat, 25 Oct 2008 11:19:00 GMT

Is Technology EVIL?

Hey folks,The economy is contagious, you know? When the U.S. catches a cold (or the flu!), so does the rest of the world. The world is currently amidst a growing food crisis which has been labeled b...
Posted by on Sat, 03 May 2008 11:27:00 GMT

Help Tibet

Hello folks,By signing the petition at the link below you can join hundreds of thousands of people (and hopefully many more) in urging the Chinese government to show restraint in their suppression of ...
Posted by on Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:32:00 GMT

BURMA (PETITIONS)

Hey folks,I don't know how many of you are aware of the current situation in Burma or of its history in the last 4 decades. The country and its people have been held in a state of totalitarian oppress...
Posted by on Tue, 25 Sep 2007 23:01:00 GMT

BURMA...

I believe this is the first blog I've ever written, never really felt compelled to do so in the past. I have five minutes to write, as I'm off to a gig... But all i want to say is:If there is any suc...
Posted by on Sun, 23 Sep 2007 12:11:00 GMT